


The Goblins of Gringotts - a short study

by Danianha



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 16:23:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12657153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danianha/pseuds/Danianha
Summary: There is, in fact, a plan.





	The Goblins of Gringotts - a short study

The goblins of Gringotts aren’t exactly how wizards perceive them to be. 

If, for example, we could take a peek at the teller’s ready room just prior to bank opening hours for the wizarding folk we would see a cheerful line of youngish goblins of indeterminate gender practicing a stiff, haughty walk in front of a wall of mirrors. Others in the room are frowning at the mirrors and touching up the tips of their pointy teeth with makeup. One manager is making sure that their uniforms are all dourly correct and is currently berating a late arriving goblin who has forgotten to remove his purple paisley shirt before donning his black jacket, and he still has pink socks on. Some of the older hands are gossiping in the corner near the entrance to the bank proper, their language is light and musical, full of laughter; Gobbledegook is an old trade language developed specifically to hurt wizards’ throats – it is not in common use amongst goblins.

Other things are not as expected either: the manager of the vault carts is currently congratulating the students who have won the right to control the carts this week by being in the top 10% of their school academically. He then explains to the worried looking youngsters that the carts, although significantly different to the covered, upholstered ones in use on the goblin-only tracks, are actually quite safe. They just don’t look it. The vault track system is smothered in anti-emesis charms so that, although the cart ride makes most wizard folk want to throw up, they must suffer through being unable to do so until they leave the bank’s grounds.

Wizards think that Gringotts is only open a short number of hours each day. It is… to them. Other races have less limited access. 

Why is there this animosity? Several hundred years ago the defeated Goblins of Britain may have been forced to accept a treaty that declared them servants of wizard-kind, but that treaty was written by a nobleman who could not conceive of his servants not being available to him all day, every day, and thus did not include any legally binding minimum service requirements. They may have been forced to turn some of their beautiful grottoes into mere storage areas for the victorious wizards but they had two things many wealthy wizards do not – accounting acumen and patience. And, now, the ability to lock the doors and keep those wizards from their wealth. 

A very long and detailed plan is finally coming to fruition.

**Author's Note:**

> This came about because I could imagine the goblin tellers as drag queens. Unfortunately I couldn't quite write that, so I wrote this instead :)


End file.
